In the Palace of the Khans by Peter Dickinson Read Free Book Online Page B

Fofo?” he muttered as he sat down
    She glanced towards the door, frowned and shook her head.
    â€œThen you must teach me to say his name.”
    â€œFohdrahko.”
    The aitches were tricky. She kept him at it until she was satisfied, then called the eunuch over.
    â€œSay it to him,” she said.
    Nigel rose. He didn’t want to have his hand kissed again, so he put his palms together in front of his face as he’d seen Indians do, bowed his head slightly and said “Greetings, Fohdrahko.”
    The eunuch copied the gesture one-handed.
    â€œKhanazhan Nigel,” he said carefully.
    Taeela clapped her hands.
    â€œI teach … taught him how he … how to say your name. Khanazhan means little khan. Now you can call him Fofo.”
    She spoke in Dirzhani to the eunuch, who gave a silent laugh, bowed his head again to Nigel and returned to his stool.
    â€œWhat would you like to do?” said Nigel. “My mother’s found a film you might like to watch. If we get bored I could start teaching you chess.”
    â€œCool,” she said experimentally.
    As soon as the film started Fohdrahko brought his stool over and settled behind the sofa. Watching it was a slow process because Taeela kept pausing it to ask Nigel questions about stuff she hadn’t understood, or simply to explain what people were saying to Fohdrahko. She was starting to sound like Jenny Agutter when the servant came in with the drinks and biscuits. They were still only half way through, but she switched the TV off.
    â€œEnough,” she said. “Now you teach me chess.”
    Mr. Harries used the school team to help teach beginners, so Nigel knew the drill. First he showed her the moves, and how to take pieces and what check and checkmate meant and so on. Then he set the board up, giving her the black pieces, and advanced his king’s pawn.
    â€œYour turn,” he said.
    â€œWhat I … do I do?”
    â€œAnything you like, so long as it’s legal. I won’t be trying to beat you, I’ll be trying to keep the game going. It’s just so you can get a feel of how it works.”
    The first game took about five minutes. In the second he started saying things like “I can take that knight with my bishop unless you protect it with that pawn.” By the third she’d stopped moving almost at random and was beginning to play more intently, starting to make a move, taking it back (Mr. Harries let beginners do that), defending her pieces with other pieces and so on.
    As they set up the pieces for the next game Nigel said “We’d better make this the last one. I’ll have to go soon.”
    â€œI will play ve-ry slow-ly. This time I am black.”
    In fact she played only a little slower, and that because she was thinking more. When there were only a few minutes left he said “Are you sure you want to do that?”
    She stared at the piece she’d just moved, and shrugged.
    â€œWhy not?”
    He advanced a pawn to fork her knight and rook.
    â€œYou’ve got to lose one of them,” he said.
    She glared at him and shifted the knight.
    â€œI like my little horses,” she said.
    â€œYou mustn’t think like that,” he said. “That rook was much better placed, and it’ll be stronger once the board’s a bit clearer. You’ve got to get used to the idea of giving pieces up, any piece, if it’s worth while. There’s nothing more exciting than a good queen sacrifice.”
    â€œShow me.”
    â€œNext time. I’ll have to think it out.”
    â€œNo, show me now. This game is stupid.”
    Impatiently she picked her queen up and handed it to him.
    â€œOh, all right. But if the driver …”
    â€œI tell him to wait.”
    â€œOh, all right.”
    Because it was fresh in his memory and he could do it without thinking he quickly set up the position at the end of yesterday’s game.
    â€œNow look,”